WPI Athletics Weekly Update #22

Feb 12, 2018

Alana Keating scored a career-high 10 points as part of a 25-6 Women’s Basketball run to close out Babson, 52-43, in a key NEWMAC matchup Wednesday night in Staake Gymnasium. Babson, which entered the night tied for first place. WPI has also now beaten all NEWMAC teams on the schedule thus far this season, also defeated Clark on Saturday and enters the final week of the regular season tied for first place in the loss column with Babson and Smith.

Chris Rodgers paced all players with 27 points and Jake Wisniewski added 17 as Men's Basketball defeated visiting Emerson 105-77 in a NEWMAC contest played Saturday afternoon in Harrington Auditorium. WPI is now 14-9 on the season and 8-6 in conference play. It was the 44th time in program history that the Crimson and Gray reached the century mark and the first time since December 6th, 2016 in a 105-68 victory against MCLA.

Major decisions by Ben Zogby and Stephen Jendritz and late wins from Brendan Marion and Dan Wensley keyed WPI wrestling's 20-12 regular-season ending road victory on Saturday evening. The victory gives the Engineers an 18-4 dual meet record, the third most wins in a season in program history, and the most since the 1993-94 campaign which saw the Crimson and Gray win the New England championship.

Lea Strangio and Sydney Packard each improved their standings on the NCAA Division III Indoor Women's Track & Field performance list and three of No. 15 WPI's school records were reset Friday at the BU Valentine Invitational. Strangio, who entered the competition 45th in DIII, was 10th immediately following the 800-meter run with a time of 2:15.30, and 11th as of Sunday night. The following day Antoine Harris destroyed the 200-meter run record while 10 more members of Men’s Track & Field handed in personal-bests. Harris, the top Division III finisher in the 200, posted a time of 21.86 which is currently No. 13 on the NCAA performance list. The mark was .67 seconds faster than the runner up in the heat and .34 quicker than the previous WPI standard.

Thomas Hlavenka, Bryant Babel and Sam Carley each struck gold for Men's Swimming and Diving and Stephanie Marcucci, Erica Houghton and Annie Hughes each won a pair of events for Women’s Swimming and Diving at Clark's Cougar Invitational Saturday in the Kneller Center.

I challenge you to find a better event to attend on Valentine’s Day than the home basketball doubleheader on Wednesday evening. The men kick things off with a 5:30pm match-up with league-leading Springfield while the women host Wellesley at 7:30pm. The winter championship season begins Friday and Saturday with Track and Field competing in the New England Division III Championships. The men are at Middlebury and the Women at Springfield. Also on Saturday, Women’s Basketball entertains Emerson at 2pm and Men’s Basketball is at 1pm.

Antoine Harris from the track & field team has been tabbed as the WPI Male Student-Athlete of the Week for the week ending Sunday, February 11th. Harris, the top Division III finisher in the 200 Saturday at BU, set a new WPI record with a time of 21.86 which is currently No. 13 on the NCAA performance list. The mark was .67 seconds faster than the runner up in the heat and .34 quicker than the previous WPI standard.

Women’s Student-Athlete of the Week

Lea Strangio - Track & Field - Senior - Watertown, MA

Lea Strangio of the track & field team has been named as the WPI Female Student-Athlete of the Week for the week ending Sunday, February 11th. Strangio, who entered the competition at BU 45th in DIII, was 10th immediately following the 800-meter run, and 11th as of Sunday night, with a time of 2:15.30. With three weeks to go, Strangio also has a chance to earn a trip to the NCAA Championships in the distance medley relay.